Karen Cappello spent time as a university professor, president of a semiconductor manufacturing firm, as well as, an estate and financial planner in Tucson, AZ. Like many, she grew weary of the 60-hour work week and the ever-present alarm clock beckoning another repetition of the daily grind.
She was tired of business suits, fashionable shoes and continual overworking. She wanted to wear comfortable apparel and work fewer hours, without the blaring alarm clock.
The long hours and diligent work ethic did make her a success. She qualified for the Million-Dollar Round Table in estate planning, in just her second year. A rare feat.
She was making money and had high success, but her quality of life was suffering. Something needed to change.
Given her extensive business background and educational experience, she set out to find out how to have the same type of success without paying such a high price. She decided to become a business coach to help entrepreneurs and other coaches avoid the pitfalls of over work, stress and fatigue, that she had experienced.
Karen told us,
“I wasn’t sure I could have the same degree of success without that big price tag. I thought you had to work hard in order to make money. I found out that it could be done.”
Today she is a master certified business coach, who enjoys helping other coaches, as well as, entrepreneurs grow their businesses, with ease and joy, just as she has done.
In fact, her tagline for her coaching business is, “Success with Ease and Joy.”
Karen now works with other coaches who have come out of a corporate environment. She describes them as the person in charge at their previous job. They sat in an office, managed a staff, had an assistant bring them coffee, screen their calls and set their schedule of appointments. Now as individual coaches, they no longer have that support group, or a sales team to bring paying customers in the front door. They have to build and grow their own businesses which includes both marketing themselves and providing their service.
“I know many capable coaches, who have much to offer, and when they finally learn marketing skills they have the impact and lifestyle they desire.”
The Importance of Knowing Your “Essence Energy”
Another large influence in Karen’s background was being introduced to energy work early on in her adult life. She grew up in Chicago, so the alternative heath practices and energy healers she found in Tucson, Arizona, fascinated her. By taking advantage of what was offered in Tucson, she learned that everything is energy. She made the connection between putting attention on one’s energy to how it affects the individual’s overall success and happiness. As a former speech major, Karen says:
“We all know the difference between content and delivery. As a speaker you can have the best content in the world, but it’s only when you deliver it well with energy and enthusiasm, that anyone is going to hear you.”
Karen realized through this journey, the importance of focusing on who she was BEING in addition to what she was doing. That’s a big foundation of what she teaches her clients in her coaching business. She encourages everyone to be themselves in their marketing and sales as much as they are themselves in the delivery of their business products or services. Just because somebody else made a million dollars with a certain strategy or tactic, doesn’t mean that everyone will. In fact, if you try it and it’s not aligned with who you truly are, the results will most likely be disappointing.
Karen told us, “Everybody has an energy that they feel when they are most alive. This is the energy you feel when you are holding your grandkids or you’re petting your cat or being your true self. I work with clients to find that place of exuberance and passion for their business. I call that their ‘essence energy.’ I teach my clients to use this energy to grow a successful coaching business.”
Karen encourages her clients, once they find their essence energy, to name it and then bring that into everything that they do. They then use it as a criteria to determine the inspired actions to take. For example, if a certain marketing technique brings them more into their essence energy, they need to do it. If it takes them out of their essence energy, even if it worked for everybody else in the world – don’t do it.
Karen likes to relax into her day. In the early morning she takes time for quietly connecting to her inner guidance as she listens to 528 Hertz frequency music. The universal tonal music, or binaural beats relaxes her mind and helps her be open to day’s activities, plus creates her own ‘essence energy’ for the day.
Measuring Results is Key
Karen also does public speaking, especially related to training coaches.
A favorite speaking memory is when she went to Venice and spoke at the University of Venice, Ca’ Foscari. As Chief Learning Officer at International Coach Academy (ICA), she coached and trained students all over the world, and one of her students invited her to keynote at the conference in Venice. It was particularly special because Karen is of Italian heritage. Both of her grandfathers were born in Italy, so the experience will forever be etched in her memory.
A topic she is quickly becoming an advocate for is about measuring results; she recently did a presentation for the Worldwide Business and Executive Coaching Summit (WBECS) addressing this for coaches.
She believes that coaches (and all business owners really) need to measure and track two distinct things. The first is tracking their clients’ results. Coaches need to know the impact of the services they provide and then make that a part of their sales conversations. It’s so much more compelling. Rather than saying, for example, I have a 3-month program and you get two coaching calls per month and online training, etc., coaches can say, I have a 3-month program, and 90% of my clients make 2-4x a return on their investment.
The second is tracking their own results, including the activities they use to get there. Karen shares,
“Every coach that I work with wants to have clients and wants to make a certain amount of money, but how do they get there? What are the activities that must be done every day to make it happen? These are the things that must be measured and accounted for in addition to concrete business results.”
With those two tracking systems in place, coaches can build a strong business and create more income and impact, a goal Karen wants every coach to achieve.
Karen’s Vision
Karen loves coaching and plans to continue supporting coaches in creating their business and changing lives, while continuing in the lifestyle they are accustomed to. Recently, she has started working more with groups, rather than one-on-one coaching. A part of her vision is to have more time for her self-care:
“I live near two world-class spas. I love the spa! I want to spend more time on spa days with my friends. I also want to spend more time visiting new restaurants with my sweetie. Plus, my mother is living here in Tucson; I enjoy spending time with her.”
Karen’s proven methods will help business coaches increase their clientele and profitability, right along with making a contribution to a better world. If you would like to learn more about her coaching visit: www.coachesquickstartintensive.com, or email her team at concierge@coachesquickstartintensive.com.
